Archive: Wildfire Management Overlays
Last Updated 28/3/08
Amendment C26 Approved: New Wildfire Overlays (WMO) Now Apply
(3/3/08 - P) Approved by Planning Minister last week.
Residents are alerted that it is now official: Macedon Ranges' planning scheme now includes a significantly expanded suite of overlays identifying areas where wildfire risk is high. Development within these new WMO areas will need to comply with higher construction and layout standards.
You can see and download the new WMO overlay maps by going to the Department of Planning and Community Development's website (www.dse.vic.gov.au), go to Planning, go to Planning Scheme Amendments Online, go to M, Macedon Ranges, go to Amendment C26, and go to Approved Documents, or click on the following (very large!) link: http://www.dse.vic.gov.au/Shared/ats.nsf/WebViewUniqueID/cf045c65bed18305ca2570a4000709de?OpenDocument&M&Macedon%20Ranges&Macedon%20Ranges%2CManningham%2CMansfield%2CMaribyrnong%2CMaroondah%2CMelbourne%2CMelton%2CMildura%2CMitchell%2CMoira%2CMonash%2CMoonee%20Valley%2CMoorabool%2CMoreland%2CMornington%20Peninsula%2CMount%20Alexander%2CMoyne%2CMurrindindi&Click=CA256DC800080C18.476caac79d318ee2ca256dee001434f7/$Body/0.2A7E
Consultation Begins On Changes To Wildfire Management Overlay
(28/3/06 - P) Check out dates and times for Amendment C26 meetings for your chance to comment
Council and the CFA will hold consultation meetings shortly about changes being made to the Wildfire Management Overlay in Macedon Ranges planning scheme. You can inspect the mapping and amendment documentation by going to Council's website (www.mrsc.vic.gov.au) or Council service centres.
MRRA Says:
We previously expressed concern with changes proposed to this overlay because, while there are more overlays proposed (which is good), the ones we've presently got in our planning scheme, which identify the highest fire risk areas, aren't all included in the new overlays. Click here to see what we said then.
Are We About To Be Burnt By New Wildfire Management Overlays?
(28/7/05 – P) How can “extreme fire risk areas” simply disappear?
At its 27 July meeting Macedon Ranges’ Council resolved to put new Wildfire Management Overlay (WMO) maps on exhibition as an amendment to incorporate these overlays into our planning scheme. The maps are understood to have been prepared by the Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE), and the Country Fire Authority (CFA), not Macedon Ranges’ Council. Macedon Ranges already has Wildfire Management Overlays in its planning scheme. These are applied to areas with the most extreme fire risk (90th percentile). And this has long been a major difficulty – only the worst fire risk areas qualified for an overlay while other areas of high risk had none. The new WMO overlays should expand the areas to which Wildfire Management Overlays are applied. So what’s the problem, you say? The problem is that MOST OF THE “EXTREME FIRE RISK AREAS” COVERED BY EXISTING OVERLAYS AREN’T INCLUDED IN THE NEW OVERLAYS. The risk in these areas seems to have just… disappeared.
MRRA Says:
While the Association supports expansion of areas covered by Wildfire Management Overlays, having the most extreme fire risk areas ‘vanish’ from our planning scheme demands an explanation. But that’s not all that’s wrong. Many existing property titles (subdivisions) in rural areas have likewise vanished from these maps – looking at the maps the Shire could appear to be largely unpopulated instead of having experienced raging growth of subdivision and houses in rural areas since the introduction of the Victoria Planning Provisions (VPP) planning system. Also, four maps that currently have Wildfire Management Overlays have none in the new maps – they simply aren’t included in the amendment. MRRA has already taken this issue up with Council, and will consider taking it to other jurisdictions.